The invention concerns an apparatus for the gripping and decollating of a bottom blank of a stack of blanks such as laminated paper blanks.
Apparatuses of this type are known (e.g., a block casing machine of the Horauf Maschinenfabrik GmbH & Co., West Gernamy). In this known configuration, the suction cups grip and bend down a blank to be decollated. The suction cups project through a flat surface of a rotary suction shaft. After the suction cups have made initial contact with the blank, the suction cups remain extended beyond that flat surface. This means that the blank to be bent down and decollated cannot rest flush against the flat surface, which may lead to difficulties in releasing the bottom blank from the stack, particularly if non-flat embossed or textile laminated book coverings are to be gripped. In such a case, dead air may be suctioned in whereby the gripping efficiency of the suction system is decreased.
It is, therefore, an object of the invention to eliminate this disadvantage and to provide an apparatus of the afore-mentioned type so that book lid coverings, especially those having a non-flat surface, may be gripped and decollated more securely.